Through The Years
by lowlizah
Summary: Age 6: The Meeting; Age 7: The Promise; Age 8: The Kiss; Age 9: The Proposal; Age 10: The Parting; Age 18: The Reunion; Age 27: The Wedding


A/N: Nolan spoke French and I was flailing because Sebastian lived in France so another headcanon I have is that Hunter's from and old military family, like generational as those things tend to be, and they might have met in France when Hunter's family was stationed there when they were little. Cue cute chibi huntbastian interaction and fluff and then they meet again at Dalton and FUCK YES!

Because then you can do all the cute little childhood promises of like, getting married one day, and all that.

~*~*~

**Age 6: The Meeting**  
Hunter frowned as he looked around the park. His mom was reading a book on a nearby bench and there were lots of kids here since it was the afternoon. They had just moved here a few days ago and this was their first time here. He would start school soon so he would make friends there but he didn't want to wait until then. He wanted to make a friend now.

But none of the other kids spoke English. He frowned and looked down at his soccer ball. A shadow fell over him and he heard someone speak in that weird language he didn't understand. He looked up and saw a boy his age, with brown hair and hazel eyes, dressed in a uniform that some of the other boys in the park were wearing.

"What?" Hunter asked glaring at the boy. "It's my ball."

The boy smiled and asked, "Sorry. I asked if you want to play with me?" His English was a little accented but easy to understand.

Hunter paused and smiled, "Okay. I'm Hunter."

"I'm Sebastian," the boy introduced. "I think I'm gonna make you my new best friend. All the other boys aren't fun."

**Age 7: The Promise**  
Hunter watched as his mom and Sebastian's mom ran around the park, shouting for the other boy. Hunter had heard what happened on the way here. Sebastian's mom and dad had been arguing and Mr. Smythe had packed his bags and left. Ignoring Sebastian's crying and calls for him, Mr. Smyth got in a taxi and left.

Sebastian had run away after that. Miss Abigail had called his mom crying and it was Hunter who suggested checking the park. It was getting dark and colder. He knew it wouldn't be long before mom called dad and the police.

Slipping off of the bench he walked to the secret hiding spot. It was a little cave where the bushes and brick park fence met that you had to crawl to get to. They had found it and the cave was big enough for them both. Getting down on all fours he crawled under the bushes all the way until he found Sebastian, where he knew he would find Sebastian.

"Your mum is looking for you and crying," he said sitting next to his friend and setting an arm around the other boy. "It's cold."

"She'll leave," Sebastian whispered. "Just like dad left. They don't want me. No one wants me."

Hunter frowned. "I want you. I won't leave you ever."

"Yes you will. Everyone leaves me. I'm not good enough for them to stay. I'm not good enough for them to want me," Sebastian buried his face in his arms and cried. His body shaking with his sobs and he curled up tighter.

"You're perfect to me," Hunter relplied, "and I won't leave you. I promise. Cross my heart."

Sebastian looked over at his friend and whiped his eyes. "Do you mean that?" He asked.

"Of course. Come on. It's cold and maybe we can get our moms to get us donuts ad hot chocolate."

**Age 8: The Kiss**  
They had been in the park, in their secret hiding spot when they saw them. Two teenage girls were giggling and holding each other. They watched the quietly as the couple whispered to each other before they kissed. They stayed kissing for a little while longer before they left hand-in-hand.

Hunter frowned and glanced at his friend. "Do you think they're girlfriends?" he asked.

"Of course. You only kiss like that with people you love." Sebastian replied. "I wanna kiss someone like that."

"But they were using their tongues," Hunter scrunched up his nose.

"That's why you're only supposed to do it with someone you love," Sebastian explained.

"Well I love you," Hunter replied smartly. "Do you wanna kiss me?"

"Do you know how to kiss like they did?"

"No. Do you?" At the shake of his friend's head, he added, "Maybe it's something you learn when you get older." He frowned when he saw Sebastian's disappointed look and bit his lip in thought. "Close your eyes," Hunter ordered. Sebastian gave him a funny look before doing as asked.

Sebastian was about to ask what Hunter was going to do when he felt Hunter's breath on his face followed by the press of Hunter's lips on his. It was soft and kinda nice. When Hunter pulled away, they stared at each other before smiling.

**Age 9: The Proposal**  
Sebastian glared at Lacey. He didn't like her. She was trying to make Hunter marry her by the slide. Finally he had enough and stomped over. He snatched the flower wreath off her head and threw it to the ground, ignoring her indignant 'hey!' and said, "You can't have Hunter! He's mine!"

"No he's not!" Lacey shouted back, "We're getting married."

"No!" Sebastian shouted. "Hunter is gonna marry me! Right Hunter?"

"Boys can't get married!" Lacey replied putting her hands on her hips. "You have to marry a girl if you want babies dummy."

"Babies are gross, stupid. Why would Hunter want to have gross babies?" Sebastian asked crossing his arms.

"If you and Hunter aren't getting married, can I marry Sebastian?" Suzy asked Lacey as she picked up some more flowers.

"No. I'm marrying Sebastian," Hunter replied glaring at Suzy.

"I told you boys can't get married. My church says so," Lacey said stomping her foot.

"Well that's not a church; that's a slide." Suzy said confused. "I want babies do you wanna marry me? The dumb boys can marry each other."

Lacey paused as she considered it before nodding. "Okay." She linked arms with Suzy and the two walked away together.

"So do you really wanna get married?" Hunter asked. "Cause it looks like they're gonna play kickball and I think our moms would want to come to the wedding."

Sebastian nodded. "You're right; we can do it later. Let's go before they start picking teams."

**Age 10: The Parting**  
When mom and dad walked into his room together, Hunter knew he wouldn't like it. Dad was in full uniform, his white hat nestled under his arm. Mom was giving him a tight smile, which meant this was likely news he wouldn't like.

"Hunter," dad said, "I have some exciting news."

"We're moving," Hunter replied with a frown. He looked down at his lap and bit his lip. "Do we have to?"

"You know the answer to that Hunter," his mother said quietly. "It'll be fun. You'll get to make new friends. Explore a new city in a new country."

"We're getting sent to Japan. How exciting is that?"

"What about Sebastian?" Hunter asked looking at his mom. "I don't want new friends. I don't want to move. I like it here. I want him."

"Hunter," his dad warned. "What do you want me to do? Quit my job? You know I can't do that."

"You'll keep in touch," mom said in her reassuring voice, "Who knows maybe you'll meet again."

Hunter shook his head. "When?"

"End of the week."

Hunter's head shot up to stare in surprise. "But that's in three days!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry Hunter," his mom said.

Telling Sebastian had been the worst. Hunter hated seeing the other boy sad and being the reason he saw his best friend cry made him feel even worse.

"You said you wouldn't leave me," Sebastian whispered, "You promised. You promised remember! After my dad…"

After Sebastian's dad left.

Hunter pulled his friend into a hug and said, "Please don't cry."

Sebastian wrapped his arms around the other brunette and squeezed. "Don't forget me?" he asked.

"Never."

**Age 18: The Reunion**  
Neither of them could belive it. Yet here they were, staring at each other. Memories of birthday parties, sleepovers, dancing, and soccer running through both their heads. Hunter stared at his long time childhood friend. Sebastian looked exactly like he imagined. He finally forced himself to look away from Sebastian as a blond male asked who he was. His gaze swept over the others in the room and introduced himself, "I'm Hunter Clarington. I'm your new captain."

Sebastian used the opportunity of Hunter asking the other Warblers for their names to really check the other male out. Hunter was only a little bit shorter than him but where Sebastian had lean muscle, Hunter had bulk. He got up to leave when Hunter dismissed them, having skipped over his introduction, but was halted by the other brunette with a "Not you."

They spent a few seconds of those moments alone to stare at each other, continuing to just take each other in.

"So how have you been?" Hunter asked. "You look well."

"What are you doing here?" Sebastian asked.

"You know why."

Sebastian glared, "You could have said no but you didn't. You came here."

"I won't say that you being here didn't influence my decision to come to Dalton but it wasn't my sole reason, just a small part." Hunter walked up to Sebastian and asked, "Did you miss me? I missed you."

"No. I didn't miss you at all," Sebastian replied crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Hunter stepped closer and grinned when Sebastian backed up. "I can tell you're lying," he whispered. "Have dinner with me. It can be simple captain to co-captain conversation if that is all you want." The 'for now' was left unsaid.

Sebastian sighed and nodded. "Fine but only because we do need to talk about the Warblers. None of that reconnecting, talking about the past, and how life has been since we last saw each other shit." Hunter's agreement didn't do much to reassure that the Warblers would be all that they were going to be talking about. Oh well, Sebastian had some whiskey in a flask to make the night easier; maybe he would sneak some to Hunter. The guy seemed kind of uptight.

**Age 27: The Wedding**  
Sebastian paced back and forth. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He and Hunter had been living together 'in sin' as Grandmother Clarington had put it, for over three years and dating for six so really this was the next step. Mostly to get Grandmother Clarington to stop calling them every day to ask when the wedding was because she wanted to be around to see her great-grandchildren and General Clarington Senior for all his complaints about homosexuality really did want to see his grandson get married, even if it wasn't to someone he would have preferred.

His mother flew in from Paris at the news and immediately hired the best wedding planner in the city, a certain Miss Santana Lopez. It seemed he was destined to never escape those Lima-losers, even the dynamic duo Niff were to forever torture him as both work at the same upscale private academy as Hunter. Jeff as a dance instructor for the rigorous arts program at the school and Nick as chemistry teacher. Even fucking Blaine Anderson! Or Anderson-Hummel as it now was, worked at the same law firm as Sebastian. Fortunately he didn't run into the hobbit's other half nearly so often; unfortunately today would be one of those days as literally everyone had been invited.

His wedding had apparently spawned an impromptu reunion for both former Warblers and New Direction members, nearly all of which had not been on his guest list but somehow managed to still be invited after he handed the list over to a certain planner that would be taking care of the invites.

A quick glance at the clock showed it was nearly time. His mum and step-father were here along with his step-siblings. His dad was here, never one to miss the chance of showing off in front of cameras since re-election was always right around the corner. His grandparents were here. Hunter's family were all here, even his fucking uncle that was stationed in Rome was here!

Fuck why did he agree to a church! A simple courthouse wedding would have sufficed. Eloping was looking better and better because there was no doubt that he was going to marry Hunter today. He had no doubts about that. The method of that marriage however was starting to look less appealing.

There was a knock and Santana walked in without much pause. She came up short when she saw him though and frowned, "Hey you're not getting cold feet now are you? Because let me tell you-"

"Of course not! I love Hunter. I want to marry him, today!" Sebastian snapped. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Santana stared at him before smiling. "Jitters then. You're anxious about getting this over with and being Mrs. Clarington. You can't wait to be able to calling army boy your husband," she brushed off his shoulder and picked off some non-existent lint from his lapel. "In fact, you are eager for it. But there is that little, tiny voice of fear about what if this is wrong and what if you aren't meant to be together and all that bullshit. Am I right?"

"Except for the last part," Sebastian replied softly. "I know we are."

"Then let's go. They're waiting and I have a kick-ass reception that I planned for you and army boy that I know you'll love and you'll need to remember that I also do baptisms, anniversaries, birthdays, and baby showers," she shooed him out of the room and into the lobby area outside of the sacristy. Aside from one of the photographers (why was he outside?) it was just them. "Wait here," she instructed before she left through another set of doors just across the way and moments later out came Hunter.

He could hear Hunter's intake of breath as his soon to be husband saw him for the first time since yesterday morning. He didn't notice though because he was too busy taking in Hunter. He had seen Hunter in his formal uniform many times, though not so many since he was close to retiring the uniform permanently with only a few months left on his service contract. The navy jacket, pressed with all it's patches, medals and regalia and the white pants with a strip down the sides. His hat placed neatly on his head, white gloves, and finely polished shoes.

Sebastian tuxedo was certain more expensive but was far less ornate. A simple black pin strip designer 3-piece tux, tailored to fit him like a glove. He had a finely pressed white dress shirt with a black silk vest and white silk tie. His shoes also designer black and white oxfords and he had a white silk handkerchief tucked into his breast pocket.

Santana came back and said, "Usually the bride and groom don't see each other until the bride walks down the aisle but since there is no bride to be handed over, I think you should walk down together. I had Edgar here with his cameras to get the pictures of you first seeing each other in a nice private setting so you can really enjoy it," she paused, "Also in case someone needed to bolt but if you're both ready we can open the doors and you can walk down the aisle together."

"We're ready," they said as the same time.

The time for them to exchange vows came sooner than Sebastian expected. He could have sworn the rehearsal dragged on longer than what the actual wedding service was taking. Hunter was staring at him with such love that it was almost overwhelming and his voice washed over him, "Sebastian I first met you when I was 6 and it was without a doubt one of the most important moments of my life. You became my best friend. When we had to move away, I was 10 and I wanted so badly to just runaway with you. I had no choice then but now I do. I want to remake my promise that I made to never leave you but today I am adding to that promise. I promise to kiss you always; I promise to remind you everyday how much I love you; I promise you this and so much more."

Sebastian bit his lip to try and stop the tears threatening to fall, "Hunter we met again at Dalton when we were 18 and I knew. I still wonder if maybe Dalton has some kind of magical soul-mate connecting power because that is what you are to me and I am so happy to have found you. We might not have had the choice to let each other go but we still ended up back together." Sebastian had to pause as his voice became shaky, "You came back to me. This time, you found me." He licked his lips and smiled back, "You're everything to me Hunter and I never had a doubt in my mind that my heart belonged to you; that isn't to say I didn't try to deny it." They shared a smile before looking back to the priest to finish up with the ceremony.


End file.
